London protesters say ‘hands off Iran' and its supreme leader
Protesters marched through central London with placards in support of Iran's supreme leader during a heated pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday.
Among thousands of demonstrators waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, men and women were photographed carrying signs featuring Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alongside the message: 'Choose the right side of history.'
Pro-Palestinian marches have taken place almost weekly in cities across the UK since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.
But this was the second consecutive weekend in which the Palestinian flag appeared alongside Iran's red, white and green tricolour at a pro-Gaza demonstration in London.
The usual 'end the genocide' and 'stop arming Israel' banners were joined by those supporting the Iranian regime. 'Free Palestine, hands off Iran,' one banner said.
It comes after Israel began bombing Iran's military and nuclear facilities last Friday, pushing the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.
On Saturday, signs supporting Palestine Action – the activist group ministers are planning to ban as a terrorist organisation after its attack on RAF planes – were largely absent from the protest.
A notable exception was a placard held up by a woman seen walking down Whitehall. The cardboard sign read: 'Support action against Israel' with 'Support Palestine Action' written beneath it in smaller text.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is preparing a written statement to put before Parliament on Monday, which, if passed, will make becoming a member of Palestine Action illegal.
The move comes after two of the group's members breached security at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to vandalise two of the aircraft.
Palestine Action announced it would stage a mass protest outside Parliament on Monday to oppose its imminent designation as a terror group.
Saturday's pro-Palestinian march began peacefully at Russell Square en route to Whitehall. But as the protest moved onto the Strand, it was met with hundreds of pro-Israeli supporters, triggering a stand-off.
Although the Metropolitan Police had separated the two groups, there was only a gap of about 10 metres between them.
Protesters on both sides threw insults at each other, with some pro-Palestinian protestors breaking through lines to get closer to yell abuse at the pro-Israeli crowds.
And on Lancaster Place, pro-Israeli protesters behind barricades used loudspeakers to taunt the pro-Palestinian marchers.
Pro-Palestinian protesters yelled abuse back at the pro-Israel protesters as police were forced to reinforce lines to keep the crowds apart.
Some protesters broke through lines to wave Palestinian flags or scream abuse at the counter-demonstration, which also included some Iranian dissidents.
Police tackled or grabbed Palestinian protesters who tried to jump the barricades.
Among those at the demonstration on Saturday was Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, who said politicians were seeking to 'turn people who protest against the invasion of Iran or the occupation of Palestine into terrorists'.
Addressing crowds at the National March for Palestine in Whitehall, the Islington North MP said: 'We need to stop the bombing of Gaza, we need to stop the occupation of Gaza.
'I want to see a reconstruction of civilian life in Gaza and the West Bank. I don't want to see the destruction of Iran. I don't want to see the world's arms industries getting even more trillions for weapons of mass destruction.'
'Dogs of war of trying to sell us lies'
Meanwhile, Humza Yousaf, the former Scottish first minister, said the Government was 'abusing' anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists.
Addressing crowds at Whitehall, the former SNP leader also accused the 'dogs of war' of 'trying to sell us lies' and compared the current crisis to the run-up to the Iraq war.
Musician Paloma Faith also told pro-Palestine campaigners that those 'who facilitate these crimes against humanity need to be made accountable'.
It comes as Palestine Action called for an 'emergency mobilisation' for Monday at 12pm in response to Government plans to designate it a terrorist organisation.
Palestine Action said the demonstration would 'show that the public stands with Palestine Action' and urged members and supporters to 'mobilise on mass'.
It claimed 35 organisations, including Stop the War Coalition, would take part in the demonstration. 'We are all Palestine Action,' the post said.
On Friday, Palestine Action shared footage of their members' attack on the RAF base. In one video, activists can be seen spraying red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft. One of the planes has previously transported prime ministers and members of the Royal family.
Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the incident.
Once proscribed, membership or support of Palestine Action will carry a sentence of up to 14 years in prison, putting it in the same category as Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
Founded in 2020 by campaigners Huda Ammori, 31, and Richard Barnard, 51, the group has carried out over 300 acts of trespass, vandalism and property damage, targeting what it calls 'Zionist' institutions, including universities, government buildings, defence contractors, banks and insurers.
Mr Barnard, previously a member of Extinction Rebellion, appeared in court last year accused of encouraging criminal damage and supporting Hamas at rallies. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The group's campaigns have seen several members arrested or jailed. In August, more than a dozen activists ram-raided the UK headquarters of Elbit Systems Horizon, an Israeli-owned arms firm, with a prison van and attacked police officers with sledgehammers, according to police.
Last year, the group published a manual instructing activists on how to carry out 'an action'.
The pamphlet prompted Chris Philp, who was the policing minister at the time, to warn that they were encouraging protesters to 'smash up businesses'.
Mr Philp is among several politicians urging proscription in the wake of the RAF attack.
'This attack on Britain's military is totally unjustified. They are undermining the very organisation that protects us all,' he said.
'Palestine Action should be pursued, prosecuted and banned for what they have done. In this country, we settle disagreements through debate and democracy, not through acts of vandalism and violence.'
Earlier on Friday, Nigel Farage, Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Labour MP David Taylor also called for the group to be banned over its 'illegal' and 'extremist' attack on the RAF base.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
24 minutes ago
- Reuters
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization says it will not allow nuclear development to stop
CAIRO, June 22 (Reuters) - Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said on Sunday it would not allow the development of its "national industry" - an apparent reference to the country's nuclear development - to be stopped. It also said the attacks on its nuclear sites violate international law, without clarifying the extent of the damage from the U.S. strikes that President Donald Trump announced earlier.
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump says Iran strikes ‘spectacular military success' and warns ‘bully' Iran to ‘make peace' or face ‘greater' attacks
President Donald Trump on Saturday said the 'mass precision strikes' carried out by American bombers on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities had been successful and warned that more of the same could be on the table if Tehran does not return to negotiations. Speaking from the Cross Hall in the White House and flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio, the ex-Florida senator who serves as hisnational security adviser as well as Secretary of State, the president described the airstrikes as 'a spectacular military success' and said the three facilities targeted by U.S. warplanes had been 'completely and totally obliterated.' 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' he said. Trump thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli forces for the 'wonderful job' they've done during a week-long campaign to take out much of Iran's nuclear and military capabilities, and said the Israeli operation — along with tonight's American airstrikes — had 'gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel' from the Iranian nuclear program. He also warned Tehran that their aggression in the region and their nuclear ambitions 'cannot continue' and cautioned Iranian leaders not to retaliate. 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill, most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes,' he said. The president's remarks came just hours after he took to Truth Social to announce that U.S. forces had struck Iranian nuclear facilities in Natanz and Esfahan, as well as the Fordow enrichment facility hidden in a mountain near the city of Qom, ending days of speculation over whether he'd order American forces to join Israel's week-old campaign to knock out Tehran's nuclear weapons program with a surprise attack aimed at bringing Iranian officials back to the negotiating table.
BreakingNews.ie
29 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
US strikes three Iranian nuclear sites
President Donald Trump said that the United States military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, quoting a provincial official, confirmed attacks on Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. Advertisement The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025 US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kg) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,' Mr Trump said in a post on social media. 'All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.' Advertisement Mr Trump added in a later post that he would address the national audience at 10pm eastern time, writing: 'This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!' Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Mr Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it's 'the last thing you want to do.' He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks, a timeline that seemed drawn out as the situation was evolving quickly. Advertisement Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them'. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared 'any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region'. Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully. Israel 's military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement 'would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' Advertisement The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel's military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US. The US ambassador to Israel announced the US had begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday's press briefing that Trump had said: 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' Instead, the U.S. president struck just two days later. Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear program, perhaps permanently. Advertisement The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defences, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites. But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for US bunker-busting bomb, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal. The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility. Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said. Mr Trump's decision for direct US military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear programme. For months, Mr Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time. The US in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and US bases from Iranian attacks. All the while, Mr Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a 'second chance' for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Mr Khamenei and making calls for Tehran's unconditional surrender. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Mr Trump said in a social media posting. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.' The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Mr Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever'. The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, US and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Mr Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran's non-nuclear malign behaviour. Mr Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his Maga faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.
